Whether it was scanning through listings on Gumtree or picking up furniture at the side of the road, Chrissie Zaremba spent months styling a home on a budget of little more than $100. Mrs Zaremba and husband John, who live in Thirroul, recently decided to sell their long-time investment property, a house at Corrimal. During a six-month period, Mrs Zaremba, a retired teacher, set about styling the home in preparation for it being listed for sale this week. Read more: Celebrity agent's lavish Wombarra home to be auctioned Having owned the investment property, located at 9 Alban Street, for 20 years, preparing it for sale presented a unique challenge. "We've renovated it, and we couldn't afford to pay the money for styling, so I did it on an absolute shoestring," she said. "I did it myself for just over $100. "I went on Gumtree, and picked up furniture at the side of the road and painted it. "I even mixed the paint myself, to get the colours I want. I used to teach the kids at school to do that, so I can mix paint," she laughed "And I made a lot of the things, like the cushions and things like that. "I didn't have all the vases or ornaments to match the various colour schemes, so I painted them to match. A quick and easy trick." Other measures included ensuring many of the feature walls were more neutral in colour. "I'm also a great recycler," she said. "I'm doing a woodwork course, and I love picking up furniture at the side of the road and recycling it. "I go to op shops, I go to garage sales, and people give away amazing things for free on Gumtree. "Lots of things I've just painted white and put new handles on... Little things that cost nothing, but look a million dollars." She said the end results had impressed onlookers. "We have just had the agents around and they were all extremely impressed," she told the Mercury. "I was pretty happy with it, but when the agents came around... The one guy offered me a job," she laughed. Mrs Zaremba said they had renovated and flipped many properties throughout the years. "I've always had an interest in it," she said. "I absolutely love it." Mrs Zaremba also offered some advice for others looking to style their property on a strict budget. "You have to look at the house, and what you've got to do is decide on colours," she said. "You've got to have an idea of which room is going to be which colour. "(Their investment property) is a three-bedroom house, so I decided that I'd put a double bed in each room, so people could visualise that it was big enough to have a bed in each room. "And it's things like getting lamps, cushions and throws - everything is part and parcel." Read more: Have your say on changes to short-term rental accommodation industry